Automatic sand-mill toy



(NoModeLj P. B. SHELDON.

AUTOMATIC SAND MILL TOY. I No. 379,132. Patented Mar. 6, 1888. w I

WITNESSES m t EyvToR UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE- PHILO B. SHELDON, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC SAND-MILL TOY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 379,132, dated March 6, 1888.

Application tiled January 10, 1887. Serial No. 223.942. (No' model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILo B. SHELDON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Erie, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Sand-'Mill Toys, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein-to the accompanying drawings.

My invention is designed as a toy for children; and niy said invention consists of what I term an automatic sand-mill composed of a suitable standard or support, a hopper for the sand, having asinall discharge-nozzle at its bottom, and a paddle-wheel so arranged beneath said hopper as to receive upon its blades the sand as it flows from the hopper, whereby said wheel is caused to revolve, and

through suitable connections therewith vari-,

ous other forms of figures and machines may be set in motion;

l he object of this invention is, primarily, to supply children when upon the sea shore with means whereby the fine sand abounding in such localities may be utilized as a source ofamuseineut and instruction, to accomplish which I proceed as follows, reference now being had to the accompanying drawings for a better understanding of the details of construction and arrangement of the parts eonr prising my invention, and in which draw- 1ngs Figure 1 represents a front view, and Fig. 2 a vertical transverse sectional elevation, of an automatic sand-mill loy constructed according to my invention. Fig. 3 is a modification.

The letter A designates a support for the apparatus, which may be of any suitable materialsuch as a wooden or iron rod with hand'hold at its top end and pointed at its other extremity to facilitate its insertion into the ground, whereby the device is held stationary when desired for use.

Near the upper end of this rod A, supported by brackets a, is a hopper, B, of any suitable or desired size, having a small contracted discharge orifice, b, at its bottom end, through which the sand which said hopper is to contain escapes. Just beneath this hopper is arranged apaddle-wheel, 0, whose jonrnal-bearings c are supported in suitable brackets either from the red A or from the hopper B, as at b, and whose blades 0, being directlybeneath produce a noise or whistle, the same as in humming-tops. In addition to this, one or both the projecting ends of the shaft of the wheel may be formed into acrank or supplied with a pulley, which, by suitable connection, may operate various forms of machines or toy figures-such, for instance, as a blacksmith at his forge or anvil, wind mills, dancing figures, acrobats, &c.

Quite a novel and interesting toy may be made by arranging a suitable box or receptacle beneath the paddle-wheel to catch the sand from said wheel, into which one end ofa tube or conveyer with a bucket-chain therein is inserted, whose top end discharges into the hopper, the bucket-chain or conveyer being operal ed by suitable connections wit-h the pad -dle-wheel, whereby a limited quantity of sand may be returned to the hopper, to be used over again to move the wheel. Various simple yet very interesting toys may be evolved from the elements here illustrated, which will not alone be a constant source of amusement to children but be quite instructive as well.

In Fig. 3 the hopper is shown as suspended by a hail from a hook on the end of the supporting-rod. Y

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows, viz:

The automatic sandmill toy composed of the supporting bar or rod A, adapted for in sertion into the ground, hopper B, supported.

by said bar, and paddle-wheel O c c, journaled beneath the discharge-orifice of the hopper, as herein described and shown, for the specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PHILO B. SHELDON.

Witnesses:

WM. P. Hams, W. J. S LL.

7 [O0 purposes 

